What If?
by Monty104
Summary: What if Sam was too late to stop the bullet from hitting his little brother? What if Rafe had successfully shot Nathan in Libertalia?


What if? – By Monty_Burns104

"You're right…you're half right, I just need Sam."

Sam's heart just dropped the second those words escaped from Rafes mouth. He looked back and forth between the gun Rafe was holding and his baby brother. Everything happened too fast, first the gun was raised and aimed at Samuels head, then in quick motion before Sam or Nathan could do anything, Rafe quickly moved his gun to aim at Nathan's chest, and a shot broke out through the air.

The bullet hit Nathan just above his gut, close to the centre of his chest but just off to the right a little. Sam went into complete shock as he realised that Rafe has just shot his little brother. He looked up at Nathan and went to run towards him, but before he could do that Rafe pointed a gun at his head, whilst he watched as Nathan began to fall off the cliff. His little brother managed to catch eye contact with Sam just before he completely fell off the cliff, with sincere regret shown clearly in his eyes.

"NO!" Sam screamed at the top of his lungs as he watched his baby brother disappear out of view and smack his head on part of the cliff.

"He has to be okay, he has to be okay, come on it's Nathan we're talking about here, he'll find a way." Sam whispered to himself on his knees looking over the edge of the cliff, searching for any sign of Nathan in the water below, but sadly he couldn't see anything.

Nathan was gone.

"Well that's one problem out of the way." Rafe spoke filling the silence that had suddenly appeared, as he walked away from Sam and indicated for two of the Shoreline soldiers to go and get Sam up.

Sam was still on the floor looking over the edge, he just couldn't believe that his brother might actually be gone time. He felt two pairs of strong hands grab onto both of his arms, interrupting him from his thoughts of what if? The strong arms went to pull him up, but Sam quickly turned around and head butted the guy on his right, making sure he let go of his arm. Now with his free arm he pushed the soldier off the cliff, the same place Nathan fell just a few minutes ago, then Sam went to work on the other guy. With great speed he kicked the Shoreline soldiers legs out so the guy fell on his back and like the other guy, he let go of his other arm. With his now free arm he picked up the fallen man and his gun and held it up in front of him, just like he did with Nadine earlier. Sam looked up with his hostage and saw all the guns were now on him once more, aiming at his forehead.

"Woah woah Samuel, what are you doing?" Rafe asked with his sincere creepy voice, whilst tilting his head to the side.

"You let me go down there to find my brother, or I will kill him!" Sam shouted as he pushed the gun deeper into the soldiers head.

"Oh come on now Samuel really? Have you seen how many guns are on you? Because I seem to count three or four, so if you shoot him, we shoot you, simple." Rafe replied as he slowly walked up to Sam.

"You kill me and you'll never find Avery's treasure!" Sam threatened as he slowly took a step back, gun still aimed at the soldier.

"Fair point, but I'm sure me and Nadine will be able to find it some way or the other," Rafe responded as he too took a step forward towards Sam and the hostage "Besides, you don't have the guts."

"If it wasn't for Nathan earlier your companion would be dead, and at the moment I'm really not in the mood for games so, what do you think I'd do?" Sam shouted back whilst looking at Nadine in the shadows behind Rafe.

"But she's not dead though so, shows your brother is indeed the bigger man. I might actually miss him…oh well."

"I'm going to kill you Rafe, so painfully and slowly that you will beg that Nathan was here instead of me!" Sam threatened as he stepped back again, quickly running out of room to walk to.

"You think that's the first threat I've heard in my life? Samuel I've had multiple people threaten me, and you know what I do? I just don't listen unless they are a real threat, and you…you're not a real threat, because I know you won't shoot him, I know you want to live another day to find Nate, and you can't do if you're dead." Rafe said as Nadine finally came into view again just behind him.

Sam just looked between all the guns aimed at him, then at the man he was holding hostage. It took him a minute to think of a way out of this, but he managed to come up with an idea in his head, it may be reckless, but it may work. Sam looked up again to see Rafe walk towards him raising his gun in the air as a way of surrender. That was his chance.

Without thinking Sam quickly smacked the guy he was holding around the head and aimed his gun at Rafe, firing a shot which hit his shoulder. Then he turned around and ran off the edge of the cliff, going into a sort of dive whilst bullets were whizzing past him. After a couple of seconds he hit the fresh cold water down below, and quickly swam up to the top to take in a breath. He looked up and took no time into swimming away so he was out of Nadine's goon's sight up above. It took him a while and all his strength to finally get out of view and swim up to shore.

Sam eventually got out of the water and had a quick look around, ignoring his soaking wet clothing which was starting to stick to him with every movement. "NATHAN!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, desperately searching for any sign of his baby brother.

He was sprinting around the area he thought Nathan had fallen, but felt his heart drop when he couldn't find him anywhere in sight. "NATHAN!" He screamed for the second time, scanning the water to see if he had been pulled up ashore.

After a few more minutes of searching, his throat was beginning to get sore from all the shouting, and his legs ached from all the running in the knee deep water, he was starting to feel really doubtful.

All his hope was running out, but Sam wasn't giving up, it's his brother for crying out loud. So he continued his search over and over again until finally he saw something, or someone, sticking out of the shallow end of the water. Without thinking, Sam sped through the water as fast as his legs would carry him in the deep and cool water. Water was being splashed in all directions but he didn't care, he only had one goal in his mind, get to Nathan.

It felt like an eternity, but in reality it was only a matter of seconds until he reached that 'something' in the water. "Oh god no, no, no Nathan!" Sam shouted as he realised that it was his little brother on the floor.

Nathan was covered in blood, and so was the water surrounding him, giving off a sort of metal scent in the air. Sam noticed Nathan's too pale face and how the hole in his chest was still pouring blood. Also he spotted that he now had a large deep gash on his forehead, and that too was still bleeding.

As Sam applied pressure to the wound, he shouted with clear panic in his voice, "Nathan, hey brother talk to me, please."

Nathan's eyes ever so slowly blinked open, staring blearily at his brother in front of him. "Sam?" He whispered through gritted teeth, trying to stop the pain radiating from his chest.

"I'm right here brother alright? You're going to be okay, you hear me? You're going to be okay." Sam repeated as he saw those eyes stare back at him.

Sam pulled Nathan up so he had his head on his lap, giving him something more comfortable to lay on instead of the solid ground. During the sudden change of movement, Nathan gave out a silent gasp of pain, as the bullet wound was jostled and caused him even more pain. Sam instantly shushed him and put his hand back on the wound, attempting to stop the buckets of blood pouring out of his chest.

His hand wasn't really stopping the bleeding though, really just delaying it as blood still slipped in between his fingers. Sam noticed this and quickly removed his hand so he could remove his outer shirt, knowing that this would help more than just his hand. Once the shirt was off, he instantly placed it where the bullet wound was and scolded as the shirt instantly became a new shade of red.

Sam decided to add some more pressure to the wound, knowing that that would help stop the bleeding, but also knowing that would cause a lot more pain for his baby brother. Sam took the shirt with both hands now and pressed down with more force than before, head turning instantly towards his brother as he let out a muffled scream.

He could see his brother was trying his hardest to not let any sound slip out of his mouth, but sadly was failing miserably. "I'm so sorry Nathan, I'm so, so sorry!"

Nathan's eyes caught his older brothers once again, clearly seeing the panic in Sam's eyes now as the bleeding showed no signs of stopping. "N-not…you're f-f-fault, you d-didn't shoot m-me." Nathan said in barely a whisper, but Sam still heard it.

"Don't talk Nathan, you've lost a lot of blood," Sam said as he took one hand off of the shirt and moved some of Nathans hair off of his now clammy face. With Sam's hand still on his brother's face he continued, "It is my fault, if I hadn't of lied about Alcazar and the debt then you would of never have gotten shot. All of this is because of me! All I wanted to do was find Avery's treasure with you, and without thinking like always, I did the one thing I could to get you here. Lie."

Nathan was trying his hardest to listen to every word his big brother was saying, but it was hard when you have a hole in your chest which feels like it's on fire. He went to reply but then suddenly it felt like a thousand daggers were going through his stomach, and he couldn't keep the pain in anymore. He let out a scream which lead Sam to panic more as he pushed down with more strength onto the wound, lifting his brother up a little so he was now half leaning on his chest.

"Nathan, Nathan what's wrong? Come on talk to me brother. Nathan…NATHAN!" Sam shouted as Nathan mouthed "sorry" just before his eyes slowly closed, unable to keep them open with the pain increasing every second passing.

"No, no, no, don't you dare give up on me Nathan! We still have so much to do, I only just got you back into my life!" Sam screamed as he removed yet again his arm from his soaked shirt, and went to grab Nathans wrist, searching for any sign of his baby brother.

He let out a long breath he didn't know he was holding when he found a pulse, meaning that Nathan was still alive. The pulse was weak and fading fast, Sam had to do something or he would lose his brother for good once again. Nathan being unconscious does have one advantage though, it means Sam can move him without causing more harm and having Nathan have the full effect.

Sam needed to get him off this goddamn island and get him some help, so he came up with a quick plan in his head before he could try and get his brother away and to a hospital. It only took a few seconds when Sam came up with his plan, carry Nathan to a boat, try and avoid running into Shoreline or it will be game over, drive him far away from this island and get him the help he needs.

With the plan all sort out in Sam's head, carefully took Nathan's head off his lap and laid him on the floor, similar to the way he found him before. With Nathan now on the floor, he crouched down to wrap his t shirt around Nathans torso, lifting him in order to secure it around him. Once the t shirt was wrapped around the bullet wound, Sam picked Nathan up and put him over his shoulder and carefully stood up.

Whilst in the movement of standing up, he heard a small and quiet groan from Nathan, meaning that he was coming to. No surprise though with the amount of movement his body has just taken, so he just said "You're going to be okay Nathan, I'm not going to let you die!" as he set off into the jungle.

Sam tried to ignore the blood soaking his shoulder as he ran through the jungle heading towards the sea in the hopes of finding a boat. He knew each step would cause pain to Nathan, but sadly that was the only thing he could do in order to keep Nathan alive.

He had been running for about 20 minutes and Sam was tired, but determined not to give up, so he kept running, in search of any type of vehicle. The bleeding hadn't stopped but it had slowed down luckily, and every so often he would check Nathan's pulse, reassuring him that he is still alive.

Another 10 minutes passed and still no sign of the sea or any type of vehicle, and Sam's body needed to rest, but he was determined to continue. He tried so hard to keep going, but his legs just wouldn't support him anymore, and he was forced to come to a complete stop. Sam placed Nathan down so he was leaning up against a tree, getting a good view of his brother.

His skin was even clammier and his skin was paler than before. He was running out of time, and Sam sadly knew this. He re-tied the shirt around him as it was beginning to loosen with all the running. He glanced a look at Nathan's closed eyes and noticed they were moving behind his eyelids, suggesting he was once again waking up.

"Nathan, come on brother I'm right here…that's it, focus on me." Sam said in a gentle voice as Nathan's eyes eventually opened to slits and stared at his brothers.

"How are you feeling?" Sam continued once his brother's eyes opened a little more and he was aware of his surroundings and what was going on.

"Like I've been s-stabbed with a burning k-k-knife and someone twisted it a-around in my s-s-stomach." Nathan spoke quietly with still a lot of pain clear in his voice.

Sam was happy to see Nathan awake and talking, but gave him a sad apologetic look as he knew he couldn't do anything to stop that pain at the moment.

"I'm going to get you help, okay brother? You just gotta hold on alright? Remember, me and you…we're gonna go fa-" Sam stopped mid-sentence as he heard a rustling behind him and quickly stood up and got his gun out. He took a protective stance in front of his brother as his eyes darted around in search for the person making that noise.

"Show yourself!" Sam shouted as he looked down at his baby brother, who was also looking around for the source of the noise. He tried to get up to help, but Sam in an instant put his hand out and gently pushed his brother back down against the tree, mouthing "stay" as he put his hand back up around his gun again.

Sam slowly walked towards the tree where he thought he heard the noise come from, and had his gun up ready in case the person attacked. "Don't make me repeat myself!" He shouted with anger in his voice. Sam had one thing in mind and that was to keep Nathan alive and safe, and this noise was something that was delaying that from happening.

The rustling got louder the closer he got to the tree, and he caught sight of the source of the noise.

"Elena?" Sam said shocked as the woman he met briefly at the hotel a few days earlier was standing in front of him with her own gun raised.

"Sam?" Elena replied as she lowered her gun, taking in the massive blood stain on his shoulder as he got closer to her, "What happened? Are you alright?"

Those words hit him, realising she obviously didn't know what had happened to her husband. "I'm fine…it's not mine." Sam replied with his head down waving his hand, indicating for her to follow him.

It took a moment before those words sank in and she realised was Sam was saying. Her eyes now wide open running after Sam with panic rising through her body. She felt her heart in her mouth as she properly looked at the blood stain on Sam's shoulder and body. That was a lot of blood.

Her worst nightmare became true the second she saw her husband covered in blood slumped up against a tree, his eyes closed and skin paler than snow. She sprinted in front of Sam and crouched next to her husband, eyeing the blood-soaked shirt wrapped around his torso. "Nate? Nate hey, hey, it's me…it's Elena!" she shouted, not even trying to hide the panic in her voice as she touched his face with her shaking hand.

At the touch Nathan seemed to stir a bit in his unconscious state, moving his eyes under his eyelids until they finally opened, weakly staring at his wife. At this point Sam crouched next to her on Nathans other side, checking his pulse for about the 100th time today and giving a quick glance to his face.

"His pulse is still fading, we need to get him to a doctor!" Sam shouted as he looked at Elena, tears now streaming down her face as she removed her hand from her husband's face and applied pressure to the gunshot wound. "How did you get here? Do you have a boat or a car or something?"

Elena not wanting to look away from Nathan said in between sobs "Su-Sully's plane, he's fly-flying around looking for you."

She removed one hand and reached into her back pocket and fished out the walkie-talkie and threw it to Sam. "Call him!" Elena looked back at Nathan as he went to open his mouth to talk, but Elena, like Sam did earlier, put her finger up to his mouth and gently shushed him. "I'm right here okay, don't talk alright? Keep your strength. I love you!"

Nathan just looked up at her catching her eyes and slowly nodded in response, showing her that he understood what she was saying. He suddenly gasped in pain again and clenched his eyes shut, which led to Elena being more concerned and worried.

She turned around to see Sam try to get through to Sully, but only receiving static over and over again. He looked like he was about to throw the only communication they had with Sully until thankfully "Sullivan here!" came through the speaker. Sam would have jumped with joy if he didn't need to talk to him so urgently.

"Victor, it's Sam. Nathan is injured, badly! Gunshot wound to his lower torso and he has lost a lot of blood. I've got the wound tightly secured but it's still bleeding, and has been bleeding for quite a while. I'm with Elena, where are you?" Sam spoke really quickly through the walkie-talkie, not leaving any room for Sully to talk while he was explain what had happened.

Sam heard a rather loud gasp on the other side of the communicator, and a pause before Sully replied "How is he? Symptoms? I've got your co-ordinates, take him to the sea which should be straight ahead of you, I'll meet you there!"

"His pulse is fading and he keeps losing consciousness, Elena's currently applying pressure to wound as we talk, but he needs a doctor ASAP. Hurry Victor, we're heading for the sea now!" Sam said as he looked at Elena whispering reassurances to her husband.

"I'm on my way now, I'll see you there!" Sully replied before the link cut off and Sam was left standing there.

With movement quicker than The Flash, he ran to his brother's side and explained to Elena what was happening and that they had to move Nathan.

Elena nod her head understanding that Nathan had to get medical attention soon or the worse could happen, as she removed her hands and moved away from her husband.

Sam knelt down next to the half-conscious Nathan, whispering "sorry" as he went to pick up his brother and hold him over her shoulder. The movement made Nathan cry out as the wound was touched and began to bleed some more. With Nathan secured over Sam's shoulders, him and Elena followed Sully's direction and ran straight forward, hoping to hit the sea soon and not have it so far away.

"This way!" Elena shouted as she recognised this was the way she travelled when Sully dropped her off, running ahead of Sam and glancing a look at Nathan. His eyes were now fully closed, they were running out of time, and fast.

Sam noticed Elena speed up the second she saw Nathan, so he began to think the worst as he too sped up the best he could with Nathan over his shoulder. It took another two minutes of running until they finally reached the water, but their hearts dropped when they saw now sign of Sully or his plane.

"Where is he? He should be here!" Sam shouted to Elena as they both scanned the water in the hopes of spotting him somewhere close by.

"I can't see hi-…wait, do you hear that?" Elena shouted back as the trees around them started to shake violently and leaves were flying everywhere.

Sam heard what she was talking about and looked behind them, sighing with relief when he saw Sully's plane fly over them and land in the water ahead of them. Due to the sand being an uneven surface, Sully was forced to land in the sea as close as he could to them. He felt terrible, he knew Sam would have to swim with Nathan over, and seawater would hurt like hell on his open wound.

With the plane in the water now, Elena and Sam ran into the water until the sea was up to their stomachs. Elena swam on ahead to get everything ready with Sully, whilst Sam lifted Nathan off of his shoulder. He hooked one arm around his chest, careful of the make-shift bandage and of course the wound. Sam set off towards the plane, trying really hard to go as fast as he can, but that was hard while you're swimming for two people.

Sam tried his hardest to ignore Nathans rather loud gasps every time he moved his arms, but he couldn't slow down knowing that the longer they're in the water for, the bigger the chance the wound would become infected. After many strokes he finally made it to Victor's plane, with Sully and Elena already at the door ready.

Sam lifted Nathan the best he could to the door, as Sully and Elena both held him under each armpit, pulling him up so he was fully out of the water. They both waited for Sam to climb on board, so they could pull him into the centre of the floor of the plane. Sadly Sully only had separate seats on his plane, so there was no way of laying him out on them.

With Sam now on board, he and Sam gently lifted Nathan to the centre of the plane, with Elena positing herself so Nathans head was on her lap. With Nathan now sprawled out on the floor, Sully finally got a good look at him. His head and chest was a bloody mess, the shirt around him was too bloody and his eyes were closed.

Before he headed to the pilots seat, he leant down and held Nate's hand and said "Come on Kid, you can do this, don't give up on us now".

He wasn't expecting a reply as his eyes were closed, but he just felt that he needed to say that to the man he thought a son for many, many years. Sully didn't want to leave him, but he knew he was the only pilot out of the three to get them out of there, and get Nate the help he needs. Plus, he was leaving him in the hands two other people who cared more for him than anything else.

"He'll be okay." Sully said to himself as he walked off to pilots hut, looking back one more time to see Elena pick up the first aid kit, and Sam trying again to wake Nathan up.

"Nathan, hey come on brother, you still with us? We need you to wake up now, we need to make check on how you're doing." Sam said, but it seemed like he was talking to a wall, Nathan was not flinching or showing any movement anytime soon.

Sam coming to the conclusion that trying to wake him would just be time wasting and useless, he went to work on his ruined shirt around his brother. He pulled out the scissors from the first aid kit and cut the shirt around him, removing it to reveal the gory wound in his chest. Before he put the scissors away, he went to cut Nathans shirt now, knowing if they tried to pull it off it may cause more harm than good.

With shirt now cut and pulled off, they got a good view of Nathans bare chest in front of them. His other scars hidden by all the blood on his stomach, Elena got a wet rag and began washing away the blood, so they could see the wound more clearly. This action caused the wound to continue bleeding, so Elena picked up the pace until most of the blood was now gone.

While she was doing this, Sam was rummaging around for some bandages as the plane began to ascend. Quickly he found some bandages and said to Elena "Let up for a minute." So he could put the bandages around his baby brother's torso. Elena did as she was told and removed the wet rag so Sam could apply some bandages. They immediately turned red when the bandages were pressed tightly around the wound, which led Sam to apply more so it would assist with the very slow but sadly still bleeding wound.

When Sam was satisfied with his work, he stood up to get a blanket for Nathans bare chest, knowing he would feel cold if he had a fever. His skin was clammy and cool when he returned with the blanket, laying it gently over Nathans shivering form slowly. Once it was neatly tucked around Nathans body, Sam joined Elena once more on the floor, as she was stroking his hair and trying to make him more comfortable. With Nathan being unconscious, she felt a lot better about the whole thing (even though she knew she shouldn't), but with him not being awake means he can't feel any pain.

With Sam now taking Nate's exposed hand in his, he used his thumb to stroke small circles into his palm, assuring his brother even in an unconscious state that they were there for him. Now and forever.

He still needed a hospital though desperately, but they knew them worrying about how long it would take to get help will not help the plane go any faster. So they just sat there and hoped that their painfully slow journey will soon be over.

They caught each other's eyes for just a second as they both lifted their tired heads up, showing small smiles to assure each other Nathan will be okay in the end.

"How long Victor?" Sam called over to Sully, breaking the silence for the first time in a while.

"Another half an hour until we hit land, not sure how long it will take until we find a hospital though…" Sully trailed off as he looked at the navigation system displaying a map of the area.

Sam nodded his head, even though he knew Sully wouldn't be able to see him nor know he acknowledged what he was saying.

He just sat back and kept staring at Nathan, not taking his eyes off of him for one second as he thought about all the what ifs once more. He didn't know how he could tell Sully or Elena about the whole Alcazar story and that Nathan being shot was his fault, so he decided to keep it quiet for the time being.

While Elena was still stroking Nathans hair she looked down at her now completely bloody clothes and hands, eyes wide knowing that it all belonged to her husband on the floor before her. She then thought about how far away Sully is going to land the plane, and the amount of distance Sam is going to have to run with Nathan in his arms to get him to the hospital. The thought of how tired Sam looked scared her that they might be too late to get Nathan to that damn hospital in time.

Elena was ripped from her thoughts when Sully voices suddenly filled the silence in the plane, "Prepare for landing, we're nearly there!"

Both Sam and Elena held onto Nathan as they descended to the solid ground down below in the first time of what feels like hours. She caught a quick glimpse out the window and noticed Sully was landing in a rather large and completely empty car park, "Lucky for us I guess." Elena thought to herself as the plane landed not so smoothly on the ground.

The sudden movement made Nathan let out a sudden gasp of pain as his body slammed on the metal and hard floor he was laying on. Elena quickly soothed him but then stopped when she realised he was somehow still unconscious through that rough and painful landing.

As the plane slowly began to come to a complete halt, Sam got up and removed the blankets which were covering Nathans bare and bloody chest, carelessly chucking them to the side as he readied himself to carry Nathan.

Once the plane completely stopped Sully hastily got up from his seat and ran to the back where the other two were beginning to stand up. "Hospital is five minutes away, this was the closest I could get the plane annoyingly," Sully trailed off as he made his way to the door, staring at Nathan the whole time, "Just grab Nathan quickly and follow me…I know the way."

Sully said that last bit in a sort of whisper as he thought about the time him and Nathan were here before looking for yet again some lost treasure. Nate had broken his leg and managed to get shot in the shoulder, so Sully had to half carry Nathan the same way they were about to head now, only this time it was a lot more serious.

As Sully lead the way Sam got on one knee and slid one hand under Nathans neck, whilst the other went under his legs. Carefully he lifted Nathan up bridal style and ran after Sully with Elena in tow, as they sped through the busy street ignoring all the stunned faces which headed their way. They rapidly ran down a 'short cut' (Or what Sully remembered to be a short cut) until they finally saw they have been waiting for in front of them, a hospital.

Sam picked up the pace and ran ahead of Sully and Elena towards the front doors, carefully running in between oncoming cars and ambulances. The second Sam burst through the automatic doors two nurses and one doctor ran up to him with a stretcher and instructed Sam to place Nathan gently on it. Once Nathan was secured they ran off behind the doors out of view, leaving Sam, Sully and Elena standing there.

A nurse walked up to them eventually and gave them a form to fill out for him, as they prepped him for surgery. Once the forms were signed the nurse directed them to some chairs, which they gratefully took as exhaustion was finally catching up with them. All they do now was wait and hope that Nathan will pull through, and then shout at him for scaring the hell out of all of them.

Hours passed until finally a nurse came out of the doors and called "Family of Nathan Drake?" and Sam, Sully and Elena all rose with urgency, ever so desperately just wanting to hear how Nate was.

"Yes we're his family, how is he?" Elena asked quickly as they all stood up to meet the nurse.

"He's a fighter alright, we lost him twice on the table but each time he managed to fight his way back. The bullet did hit an artery and pierced his lung, it's a miracle it didn't collapse because if it did I don't think I would be telling you the news I am saying now. He does have some bruising on his chest and that cut on his head has now been stitched up. He does have a concussion because of that gash, but that should go within a few hours. He's going to make it!" The Nurse replied and smiled at the reaction she got.

They all looked at each other and let out a breath at the news that after all of that, Nathan will be okay. Once the nurse said he crashed twice they didn't expect the answer they got, especially when the bullet pierced his lung.

"Can we see him?" Sam eagerly asked as they all recovered from their shock about the news.

"Yes of course, follow me." The nurse replied as she indicated for them to follow her, "He still hasn't regained consciousness yet, but it shouldn't be long until he does. Just remember he does have a concussion so when he does come to keep your voices at a minimum, okay?"

They all nodded their heads as the Nurse stopped outside room 38 and turned to them, "Go on in, he'll be happy to know he has so many people worrying and caring about him."

"Thanks." Sully said as the Nurse turned back the way they just came from, and disappeared around the corner.

Once the Nurse was gone Elena put her hand on the handle and slowly and quietly opened the door, so not to disturb him in his unconscious state. They each made their way into the room and opened their mouths shocked at the condition Nathan was currently in. Yes they all knew Nathan was going to make it, but the oxygen mask over his mouth, the IV in his arm and the bandages around his head didn't really convince them.

They all went to the side of Nathans bed, Sam on his left while Elena and Sully were on his right, still staring at his still pale face. It wasn't as pale as it was on the plane, but it was still enough to make them all worry once more. Sam brought over three chairs for them to sit on so they could stay and keep an eye on Nathan and his condition. Elena and Sully both nodded 'thanks' to Sam as he handed each of them a chair, which they both sat down on instantly.

Elena held on to Nathans right hand, mindful of the IV whilst Sam did the same with his left. Sully sat back and just stared at his Kid, watching the slow but steady rises of his chest, still trying to reassure himself that Nathan will be okay.

They all continued to do this for the next two hours, sitting in near silence not knowing what to say as they listened to the reassuring beeping from the machines surrounding them. Elena was about to say something when she heard a slight muffle coming from the bed in front of her. She instantly looked at Nathans face and saw his eyes move under his eyelids, knowing that he was waking up. Elena caught the attention of Sully and Sam as they too began to realise Nathan was trying to wake up.

His fingers began to twitch and Sam, Sully and Elena all stood up instantly to see how he was. After some dreadfully long minutes, Nathans eyes slowly flickered open but then he suddenly shut them almost instantly. "Nate? What's wrong?" Elena asked panicking as she pushed the button for the nurse.

Sam and Sully also started to panic, but then felt reassured when Nathan said rather slow and quiet "No, It's…just the lights…too bright."

This then reminded them all of the concussion he had sustained, and this would be a result of the side effects. Sully moved to the door and quickly turned the lights off, leaving them in a rather dim room with the only light being produced from the window. This then led Nathan to open his eyes once more, as he tried to focus his vision the best he could on the three people before him.

Once his vision wasn't so blurry, he looked around the room at the tired but smiling faces surrounding his bed. Elena noticed he was about to speak, so she reached up and removed his oxygen mask, so they would be able to hear him properly.

"Er…Hi?" Nathan whispered once he realised how dry his throat was and all the other pain in his body. His chest ached terribly and he had a massive headache, and those lights did not help with that at all.

"That's it? Hi?" Sam joked back as he resumed his position in his chair.

Nathan went to reply but his throat was just too dry, so this led to a long and painful coughing fit, until Elena brought over a cup of water and gave Nathan a few slow sips. This helped greatly as his harsh coughing gently came to a halt. Once Elena was certain his throat was okay and that his coughing had stopped for the time being, she and Sully (like Sam) sat back down in their seats.

"You scared the hell out of us Kid, how are you feeling?" Sully asked as he leant forward so he was in Nathans view.

"Well I feel like crap if I'll be honest…head hurts, chest hurts…basically everything hurts and I'm not really sure why." Nathan replied the best he could, not remembering the rough 24 hours they just encountered.

"You don't remember? Rafe shot you in the chest and you fell a good 40 ft off a cliff. You were bleeding out fast so I had to get help fast. With you basically out of it I had to carry you, and with the way you were acting, I was terrified I was going to lose you. Then I ran into your good wife here and we both took you to Victor and his plane. We fixed you up the best we could on the plane, but we were still at risk of losing you. Next we took you to this hospital, they fixed you up and here we are." Sam replied to Nathans question, then he took Nathans shoulder and gave it a strong squeeze, "Don't ever do that again, I don't know what I would do without you little Brother…I'm sorry."

Sam said that last bit in a whisper, but they all heard it loud and clear. "Why are you sorry? From what I can tell from the story, I should be the one who's sorry. Putting you all in a panic and stressing you out, for lying to my wife and for being a total ass to my best friend." Nathan said as he looked at both Elena and Sully, who were both still smiling at him, just happy to see him alive.

"You don't remember but, Rafe said something which I should have said from the start but I just couldn't…"

"What Sam? What's wrong?" Sully said to his surprise on his side, but Sam ignored him and continued to look at Nathan.

"There was no Alcazar…I made it all up so you could come with me and find Libertalia. After finding out you weren't in the business anymore I just needed to get you to come with me, and that was the only way I could think of. Rafe was the one who bribed the prison warden…two years ago. I spent that time with Rafe, helping him track down St Dismas' cross, but when I found it I knew I had to see you. So I got as far away from him as possible to get here and to see you. I'm sorry Nathan, this is all my fault! If I didn't lie about Alcazar then maybe you wouldn't of come and then you wouldn't have been shot!" Sam explained with his face now in his hands, really wishing for a cigarette and not having the courage to face his Baby Brother.

Sully and Elena just stared at him shocked and speechless with anger boiling inside of them, not knowing what to respond.

"I forgive you."

Sam looked up from his hands and stared at where the voice had come from. He was shocked to see Nathan give him a weak smile back as he tried to sit up. Elena moved in to assist her husband as he made multiple grunts of pain is his change of position, and then set the pillows behind him so he was comfortable.

"What?" Sam finally had the courage to reply as he was still taking Nathans words into account.

"I forgive you. Yes you are an ass for lying, but at the moment I'm still just happy you are alive and well Sam! You weren't the reason I was shot, it was my decision to come and I knew the consequences. Don't go blaming yourself about this…I actually understand why you lied. As long as I have known you, you have wanted to get this treasure, I'm just happy we got to see Libertalia together…We did see Libertalia right?" Nathan asked, and was met with a laugh and a 'yeah' from Sam.

Sully and Elena were still angry, but somehow they could see Nathans point in this. At the moment they didn't need to think about that, especially what has happened in the last couple of hours.

"Nate, go back to sleep. We are all happy you are alright, but you are still weak and you need to get your strength back…especially if you want to go back to Libertalia." Elena said, which made all three men turn around and look at her in shock.

"Libertalia? You mean, you want to go back?" Sam said, raising his body in the chair so he was now completely up right.

"Sure, 400 million sounds nice…and it would be nice to go on one last adventure, only if you're up for it Nate though." Elena asked Nathan as his face lit up.

"Of course I want to go back but, are you sure Elena?" Nate asked as he squeezed Elena's hand.

"I'm sure, you up for it Sully?" Elena asked as she turned around to face Sully.

"Why not? Let's do it, one last time." Sully replied with a chuckle.

"Then it's settled, now go to sleep Nate, we'll be here when you wake up." Elena said as she stood up to give her husband a kiss on his forehead.

"Always bossing me around, huh?" Nathan smirked back to Elena as his eyes suddenly became heavy and he welcomed the darkness surrounding his vision.

"Goodnight little brother, we won't be going anywhere…I promise!" Sam said to the now fully asleep Nathan, as all three of them got comfortable and started looking after him again.

"Elena, does the name Nate the Great ring any bells with you?" Sam asked to a clearly confused Elena.

"No…should it?"

"Ah that means he never told you, well when we were younger Nathan used to do a little bit of magic."

"What! No way did Nate do magic?" Elena replied back, listening to Sam begin a story about Nathans little magic phase. This went on for a long time and they didn't even realise Nate's smile which had appeared on his face.

He knew for sure now, he couldn't have asked for a better family.

THE END


End file.
